West Coast mainline operator Virgin Trains said it had commenced court proceedings over the Government’s decision to award a new West Coast franchise to transport company FirstGroup.

Following the West Coast decision by the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport Secretary Justine Greening had been due to sign off the contract this week.

Virgin is now hoping that its legal challenge will delay the signing.

In the past few days, Labour and members of the House of Commons Transport Committee said they hoped the final signing could be deferred until the matter could be debated in Parliament.

Sir Richard has expressed concerns that FirstGroup would not be able to live up to its financial and service-providing targets for West Coast.

Sir Richard said: “We had hoped that Parliament or an external review would be able to scrutinise this badly-flawed process before the franchise was signed.”

In a statement, Virgin said: “Virgin Trains Limited (VTL) has today commenced court proceedings in respect of the decision to award the West Coast Main Line franchise to FirstGroup.

“We have tried for three weeks to get clarity over the DfT’s decision and to have a number of key questions answered. On each occasion we have been refused information.

“We are left with no choice but to commence court proceedings as we believe the procurement process has ignored the substantial risks to taxpayers and customers of delivering FirstGroup’s bid over the course of the franchise.”

Virgin went on: “In addition it (the process) has ignored the DfT’s own assessment that VTL’s bid was more deliverable and a lower risk. We question whether FirstGroup’s bid has been correctly risk adjusted by the department given all of its supposed incremental value is delivered after 2022.

“The current process is geared to selecting the highest risk bid and needs to be independently audited to prevent a repeat of former franchise failures.”

Sir Richard said hopes of a Parliamentary or external review would be denied “if the DfT follows through with its determination to rush through the process before Parliament returns next week”.

He added that signing off the franchise now “ignores the wishes of more than 150,000 people who signed the Downing Street e-petition in 10 days, the Labour Opposition, two important Commons committees and many backbench Conservative MPs who wanted a debate before the decision is taken, not a post-mortem afterwards”.

Sir Richard said: “We have not taken this decision lightly, but it is the only course now available to try to unravel this sorry process.”

Responding to news of the legal challenge, FirstGroup said: “We have every confidence in the DfT’s process which is rigorous, detailed and fair and in which bids are thoroughly tested. There has been no complaint about the process, which was carefully described in advance, until Virgin Rail Group had lost commercially.”

FirstGroup went on: “Our plans for the new InterCity West Coast franchise include faster journeys, new trains, more seats and more direct services from London than currently on offer.

“There will be improved wifi, better catering, refurbished stations and standard anytime fares will be reduced by 15 per cent on average within the first two years. We look forward to welcoming passengers to their new and exciting InterCity West Coast service in December and creating a better railway for all.

“Our focus is to ensure a smooth transition with continuity for staff and passengers alike. We want to get on with delivering the many benefits and improvements we are offering without delay or disruption. We will continue to prepare for a successful start up of the new franchise on December 9.”